Pages

Jun 20, 2015

Sourdough Crackers | The Leftover Sourdough Starter Dilemma

These sourdough crackers are made with unfed sourdough starter. They have the tang of sourdough bread, and are a great way to use up the starter that you would normally throw away when feeding your levain.

If you are a bread geek like I am, you know what I'm talking about. If you are not, here's a brief explanation:

Sourdough starter, or levain, is basically flour and water that has been allowed to ferment and take the place of yeast in bread.

It requires feedings on a regular basis in order to remain active.

If you feed it on a regular basis, you will end up having a starter the size of the "blob" unless you bake bread on a daily basis.

I have pretty much figured out how to minimize the amount of starter I have to throw away, and I also have learned that I can neglect my starter for months and bring it back to life (future posts for Bread 101).

I know that you can make sourdough pancakes and waffles, but how many pancakes and waffles can two people eat? Thus, these crackers. At least they last a week, and can be given away (and they are delicious!).

These crackers are surprisingly easy to make. The biggest issue is that the edges of the rolled out dough burn before the middle crackers are done. I dealt with that by removing the baking sheet from the oven and removing the crackers on the outside and placing the sheet back into the oven.

I also placed the middle crackers on a rack on a baking sheet and placed them back in the turned off oven to ensure they are crisp.

I seasoned these crackers with King Arthur Flour's pizza seasoning, which consists of "salt, spices, herbs, onion, and garlic." I'm guessing there is Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper, along with the garlic and onion. I also think that herbes de Provence would be wonderful, as well as dried rosemary and thyme. It's up to you!